Walking away from mortgage...maybe.

[locash]

I have a mortgage that did not get reaffirmed in a Chapter7 and I'm still living in the house and making voluntary monthly payments of only half the original contract,(my choice). The original contract price is more than 60% of my net income and not sustainable. HSBC denied a request for modification, so I pay what is affordable. Moreover, I'm not sure of how long the bank will allow it, I started the half pay cycle in February 2010.
The market value is about 150K, some houses in my subdivision of similar size has sold for 140k.
The mortgage balance is around 198K.
I have two questions; 1.)Since I am not legally responsible for this morgtage, if I walk away from it, can it be reported on my credit as a foreclosure in public record? I know after a debt is discharged it can't be updated on your credit report.
2.)Should I just stop paying altogether and save the money ?

[littleroc02us]

Check with a lawyer regarding your responsibility after your chapter 7. I'm not one to give you advice regarding that. As for worrying about saving money for another home. I don't advise you even thinking about a buying another home in a while, you just gone done declaring bankruptcy. You need to think more about your money habits and less about spending. For now, save, learn to budget, don't carry any debt and read books about individuals who have succeeded financially without debt. Good luck.

[jIM_Ohio]

contact a lawyer

[Slug]

I've decided we need more lawyers on this board giving free advice.

[am_vanquish]

If the SA members will pay for the law degree, I'll volunteer to go back to school!

[personalbudgetstuff]

You can also try a lot of the online help sites that are free before actually paying for a lawyer. Just do a search like "free help on getting out of mortgage" or something like that.

[Personal Finace Fleur]

you should start paying it as not to waste your too much effort on it